1993 reviews of the British honours system

In 1993 two separate reviews reported on the British honours system. The first, under prime minister John Major, reported in March and focused on civilian awards. The second was started in March, at Major's suggestion, and carried out by the Ministry of Defence. Major's review abolished the minimum rank requirements for certain civilian awards when made to military personnel and ended the practice of making awards purely on the basis of the recipient holding a certain appointment in the public or private sector (with the exception of High Court judges who were still to automatically become knights or dames). Major's review also ended the award of the British Empire Medal (BEM) and Imperial Service Order (ISO), compensated for by increasing the number of awards made to the Order of the British Empire. As a means of increasing the proportion of awards made to community figures and the voluntary sector he introduced direct nominations from the general public.

The outcome of the military review was reported by Minister of Defence Malcolm Rifkind in October 1993. It was largely focused on gallantry awards. The basic structure of the awards was retained but all distinctions of rank were removed, with officers and other ranks to receive the same awards for the same actions. Generally the officer-level awards were retained (and opened to all ranks) and the other ranks award abolished. A new Conspicuous Gallantry Cross was created as the second-level operational gallantry award for all ranks as the previous officer-level award (the Distinguished Service Order) was to henceforth be awarded for leadership and not gallantry. The review considered creating a medal for the mention in dispatches award, but decided against this though the existing insignia, an oak leaf, was upgraded to silver (from bronze). The Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, which had been awarded for both gallantry and meritorious conduct, was abolished and replaced with new medals: the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service which awarded meritorious conduct in all theatres and the Queen's Commendation for Bravery in the Air for non-operational gallantry. The award of the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct was ended and replaced with the Queen's Commendation for Bravery for other non-operational gallantry.